Re:Cheap and They Don't Snitch: Drones Are the New Drug Mules
by hotpotamus on Friday January 05, 2024 @04:29PM
(#38885223)
I'm pretty sure the free drugs institution is in fact the street, and the drugs are only free in the sense that they're bought with the proceeds of crime. I can't speak for everyone, but the thought of going to live in a more formal institution does not increase the attractiveness of doing drugs for me (and I speak as someone who does like the occasional drug, legal or otherwise, in moderation of course). You could also imagine a path out like halfway houses or that sort of thing, but obviously it's a non-starter in the US.
Re:Cheap and They Don't Snitch: Drones Are the New Drug Mules
by Aurornis on Friday January 05, 2024 @04:57PM
(#38885512)
> I can't speak for everyone, but the thought of going to live in a more formal institution does not increase the attractiveness of doing drugs for me
You presumably aren't the target audience.
There are a lot of people who are working hard to stay clean and keep their addictions at bay because the costs of being addicted are too high: They lose their job, their housing, their ability to support themselves, and their future.
If you offered these people a way to do drugs for free, and a place to stay for free while they did those drugs, the incentives change dramatically.
Drug addicts are also very good at lying to themselves. You'd get people telling themselves they'd only go in "for a couple days" or "for a month or two" who would end up in there for years and years.
Re:Cheap and They Don't Snitch: Drones Are the New Drug Mules
by hotpotamus on Friday January 05, 2024 @05:12PM
(#38885701)
Oh, I've been locked in a hospital before; I wouldn't really say that I'm a stranger to addiction. I think the job was the main stressor that caused the addiction. A layoff later and I feel much better. Being chained to that job for healthcare and housing nearly killed me via a few means.
Your proposal is that we open institutions where people can live, eat, sleep, presumably have all of their needs met, and also do as many drugs as they want all day?
There is no way this theoretical free-housing-with-drugs institution would do anything but increase the number of people abusing drugs and decrease the odds of getting them back on their feet.
Can't pay your rent this month? Well if you get addicted to drugs, you get free drugs and free everything at the Free Drugs Institution...
Want to leave the Free Drugs Institution? Oh you don't have any money to get a place of your own and getting a job while you're in the throes of addiction is hard, so you might as well stay at the Free Drugs Institution...
Every single one of these theories relies on the number of drug addicts remaining fixed, but they always ignore the fact that you can't remove all of the costs of doing drugs without dramatically increasing the number of people doing drugs, relapsing, or stuck in addiction cycles.